What They Didn't Tell You About Doomsday
by LiteratiAngel
Summary: Lorelai Smith sorted papers on her desk. Suddenly, she shot up from her chair and pressed her face against the cool glass of her office window. A noise had caught her attention. It couldn't be, could it? Reviews are love! Finished!
1. Unique Noises

**What They Didn't Tell You About Doomsday**

Unique Noises

Lorelai Smith sorted papers on her desk. She wasn't really paying attention to what she was doing. She was thinking. All of them, gone. Suddenly, she shot up from her chair and pressed her face against the cool glass of her office window. A noise had caught her attention. It couldn't be, could it? Of course it was, there were no other noises like that.  
"How dare that...murderer think that he can show his face around here! I know Jack says that he's a good man really but I can't forgive him, he should be left to rot! He killed them all! If it wasn't for him..." she faltered. "He lost her though," she thought.

~*~

The Doctor hopped out of the TARDIS. He wanted to appear as if everything was fine but it wasn't, Martha was gone now, he was alone again. The curse of the Time Lords haunted his every step. Then he saw it, looming over the City, the newly reconstructed Torchwood Tower. "I can't." he thought, "it wouldn't help, and anyway, Torchwood isn't there anymore." But slowly, he began to take unwitting steps towards the building where he had lost the love of his life. Rose.

~*~

Captain Jack Harkness stared in disbelief at his newest member of staff. "You know, it could be wishful thinking, you've wanted revenge on the Doctor for a long time now, are you sure you heard the TARDIS, Rory?"  
Lorelai looked pointedly at him. "Do you really think that after all that time, ever since they rescued me from the wreck that was this building and told me that my family and my fiancé were all dead, that I wouldn't want to know why? I've dreamt of that sound every night for three whole years, I know what it sounds like, Jack."  
"I don't doubt that but I don't want you rushing down there and screaming your head off at him, he's an old friend of mine. You don't want to lose your job in your first week do you?"

Just then, the automatic doors opened to reveal a smiling face, "Jack! Good to see you! Ah, I see you're back to your old flirting regime then" said the Doctor wryly, looking at Lorelai with interest.  
"As a matter of fact, I was in the middle of a meeting, Doctor."

The window smashed to reveal a silhouetted figure…

"But, you're all dead! Why do I lose everything whilst you survive!?"

"What is it?" asked Lorelai quietly.

"EXTERMINATE!"


	2. Accusations

Accusations

Jack lazily flicked his gun at the window where the Dalek floated. The window shut and was reinforced with three inches of solid steel. The Doctor looked at him in amazement.  
"What? D'ya think I wasn't gonna be prepared for that after what happened here three years ago!?"  
"No, I suppose not. We have to get out of here though Jack, that metal won't hold it back forever."  
They ran for the doors.  
"Oh yeah, Doctor, I forgot to introduce you," Jack pointed at Lorelai. "This is Lorelai Smith, you two have a bit of a history together."  
The Doctor surveyed her with a critical eye. She had deep brown eyes, which glinted at him as if hiding a secret, shoulder length brown curls and a pretty mouth, which was turned into a scowl whenever she looked at him.  
"I don't recognise her." said the Doctor, looking puzzled.  
"Yeah, well you wouldn't would you!" she screamed. "They came for you! The Cybermen, all the time when we were trapped with them they threatened us if we didn't tell them how to defeat you. Those Dalek things as well. The 'Genesis Ark' was just a ruse to find you! My family, my friends, everyone I knew wouldn't have died if you hadn't turned up! And you just left to say goodbye to your precious girlfriend without staying to think about the consequences that the survivors would have to deal with!"  
"I'm..." started the Doctor  
"What?! Sorry?! Don't even think about it. You didn't know and you didn't care so save your breath."  
"Rory," whispered Jack, "Stop it, he does care. You don't know him like I do, like Rose did."  
The Dalek blasted through the door  
"I am Da-lek Ca-an, the Da-lek race will once again reign su-preme after your de-mise On-com-ing Storm"


	3. Denial and Glenn Miller

Denial and Glenn Miller

"And now we run!" shouted the Doctor and he took off down the stairs, closely followed by the two others.

"Should we fol-low?"

"No." came a voice from beyond the doors. "If I know the Doctor, and I do, he'll be back, don't you worry your little blue eyestalk about *that*."

~*~

They reached a secure room down the stairs. It was the newly reconstructed sphere containment room.

"Right then, we must be safe enough in here. This was the sphere room, wasn't it?" asked the Doctor quietly, his boyish face twisted into a grimace as he looked at the space where the void ship had rested.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Doctor, if we'd have known…" started Jack, but the Doctor cut him short.

"Ah well, can't be helped, she's gone now." He turned to Lorelai, "I know what it's like to lose everything." he said simply.

Her expression of hatred seemed to melt at that.

"I only met her once. Rose Tyler. A long time ago when I first started working at the old Torchwood, when I admired you, Doctor. She never stopped talking about you. It was just before the Slitheen tried to take over. I'd gone to see an old friend, Mickey Smith and she was there. I might have admired you back then, Doctor, but I could still never understand why she loved you. You were so, what's the word? Dangerous." She stopped and remembered what he had done, "You're not the only one who has lost everything, Doctor."

"We need to get out of here." interrupted Jack. "Where'd you park the TARDIS, Doc?"

"Err, round the corner I think." said the Doctor. He was still searching her face for an answer to the burning questions in his mind.

"Rory!" shouted Jack from the door. "Come on, give me a hand here!"

She tore her own eyes from the Doctor and ran over to Jack.

"What's happening to me?" she thought. "Why can't I hate him anymore? He as good as killed them all!"

Jack looked at her knowingly and whispered, "Don't worry, he tends to have that affect on people. You might really despise him, but if you're a girl, you can't help but fall in love with him."

"I'm not in love with him!" she whispered in rage, although she knew that Jack had been right. She was falling for the man who had all but murdered her family!

The deadlock seal on the doors resisted until the Doctor sauntered over to it and pressed his sonic screwdriver up to it. It yielded at that and the doors swung open. They ran.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, the Doctor looked out at the scene that was developing outside.

"Cybermen?" he said, puzzled. "B-but, I sent them through the void!"

"Come on," yelled Jack, "we haven't got time! Let's just get to the TARDIS!"

They made a break for it through the doors and skidded into the TARDIS.

The Doctor immediately leapt at the ship's controls and started pressing random buttons and muttering to himself. Lorelai swung the doors shut behind her and flopped down onto a chair, she didn't seem surprised that it was bigger on the inside, but then again, she worked at Torchwood, the Doctor had expected that. Jack wandered around slowly, taking everything in.

"Just like the old days" he whispered happily. He poked at a switch in the wall and went over to Lorelai. "Miss Smith," he said, smiling at her, "may I have the honour of this dance?"

"Don't mind if I do." she said, holding out her hand.

"Moonlight Serenade, d'ya remember this one, Doctor?"


	4. Dancing While the World Ends

Dancing While The World Ends

As Jack and Lorelai danced across the TARDIS, the Doctor reminisced about Rose and their dance to this song. He remembered how he had been trying to resonate concrete and how Rose had been so insistent that he "showed her his moves" and how they were so concentrated on their dance that they didn't even notice that they had been teleported onto Jack's ship! He remembered, with a creeping feeling that he had loved her even then. And now losing Rose was all for nothing. The Cybermen had returned.

"Doctor, do you wanna take over for a bit, she putting me through my paces here!" Jack laughed.

"Jack, in case you hadn't noticed, there's millions of Cybermen out there, along with a Dalek who is determined to kill me. Now is not the time to be dancing!"

"Come on, Doctor, it's not like you can't dance this time, plus, you trust me now don't you?" grinned Jack slyly.

"No, I don't trust you as far as I can throw you, and believe me, with the TARDIS, I could throw you a very long way! Now leave me alone, I'm busy."

"What happened to your sonic screwdriver anyway? I mean, with that thing in tow, we just could go out there and blast all the Cybermen back from where they came from!" said Jack sarcastically.

"Ha ha ha, very funny."

"Look, just leave him, Jack, he sounds like he knows what he's doing."

"Wow, well, that's a turn up for the books, an hour ago you would have said I didn't have a clue what I was doing and I'm just gonna murder everyone!"

"Yeah, well, I changed my mind alright. Don't go thinking you're special or anything though. I only changed my mind because my life is in your hands and much good may it do me."

"Er, Doctor, getting kinda tired here…"

"Fine then." He sighed, taking Lorelai's hand.

"Hmm, dancing while the world comes to an end, is this what you usually do, Doctor?"

"Nope, usually, I have a plan and possibly someone with me who knows what they're doing."

"And you're telling me that you're with two representatives of Torchwood, and you don't think we know what we're doing?!"

"Erm, yeah, pretty much! Sorry."

The TARDIS began to shake violently and the Doctor dropped Lorelai's hand impatiently. The Cybermen were coming.


	5. Back From the Dead

Back From The Dead

The Doctor made to open the TARDIS door but Lorelai put out a hand to stop him.

"I'll go. They're looking for you, not me."

"But…"

"No buts. Everyone needs you. I'm dispensable."

Before he could protest any more, she opened the door and stepped outside to face the advancing Cybermen. The Doctor heard a single shot, and everything fell silent.

"Why did you let her go!?" screamed Jack, clawing at the Doctor with his fists. "She was twenty years old and you let her go out there to die!"

"There was nothing I could do! You saw it, I tried to stop her!"

"You should have tried harder!" Jack's angry voice subsided to cold hatred, "I understand now. You survive because you make sure everyone is in awe of you. She was right to hate you in the first place. I should have stopped her meeting you. By the time it had happened, it was too late. She was already mesmerised. She was falling for you!"

"Jack…wait…what?!"

"Just like Rose, just like Martha, just like me, just like all the others! And you wouldn't have looked at her twice! She's not Rose. Precious little Rose! But Rose has gone, Doctor. I lost her too you know but I think she's better off without you. Being stuck in a parallel universe won't get her killed!"

"I love Rose! Don't make it out to be like I don't care! I would have saved everyone if I could! I'm alone, Jack. I always will be. And now, I'm going to redeem myself. I'm sorry, Jack. I'm so sorry."

The Doctor pulled open the door and faced the Cybermen.

~*~

Lorelai Smith opened her eyes. She had been knocked cold by a man who had stood with the Cybermen. She was sure she had recognised him.

"Ah, the beautiful Miss Smith," whispered a slimy voice, "So nice to have you with us at last."

"B…but you're dead! I was on the Valiant! I saw you die!"

"Hmm, maybe. And yet here I am. Alive and kickin'! And now, we wait…"

"What for?"

"Well, right now, I'm banking on the fact that *Handsome Jack* is giving the perfect Doctor what for. I'm also banking on the fact that the dear Doctor is feeling guilty enough to…hmm…how to put this?…avenge you?"

"What are you talking about?" shouted Lorelai infuriatedly.

"Well, you see, Jack's gonna have told him your little secret…"

By this time, Lorelai was fed up of playing games.

"*What* 'little secret' would that be?"

"Well, the simple fact that you *love* the Doctor and you'd do anything for him. I think that's quite enough to guilt him into anything. After all, you're such a *pretty* little girl. I might take you to see the stars one day, if you're a good girl and do as I tell you."

"Well I'm afraid I'm not so easily won over. I know who you are and I *know* that he defeated you. He did it once and he'll do it again. I believe in him."

"Oh, so sweet, I think not! You're going to have to learn just who's boss around here, darling!"

A Cyberman entered, holding the struggling Doctor in his steely arms. The Doctor, weak from his encounter but still fighting, broke away from the Cyberman's vice-like grip and crawled over to where Lorelai was held. Her normally voluptuous curls were spread out across her face, matted and tangled. Her beautiful face was covered in slashes where she had been cut and one of her eyes held the mark of a heavy fist on it.

"Doctor…" she said feebly.

"I'm here. I'm sorry."

She stroked his face. Her touch was a light as a feather and her hand shook.

"I didn't think you'd come for me" she whispered.

"Yeah, well, you tend to underestimate me a lot, don't you" laughed the Doctor softly

He looked into her face and, for a spilt second, saw Rose buried in her faintly sparking eyes. She looked at him as if she trusted him above all else. She looked at him as if she loved him. Only Rose had ever looked at him like that. Jack had been right.

Lorelai looked carefully at the Doctor's worn face. She remembered him trapped helplessly in a tiny cage on board the Valiant. Aged beyond age. She still loved him. She would always love him. From now on, he would always be her life. The first person she thought of when she woke up in the morning and the last person she though of when she went to sleep at night. He was her everything. Even in her weakened state, she found the energy to lift herself up and she kissed him, ever so softly. The Doctor kissed her back. For some reason, he didn't feel like he was betraying Rose…

"I'm so sorry to have to break up this lovely little moment that you two have got going here but I think there's something you need to know…"

The Doctor broke away from their kiss and looked around.

"Master?"


	6. Fob Watches

Fob Watches

"Ooh, took you long enough didn't it!" sneered the Master, "Recognise *this*?!"

"That's a Chameleon Arch!"

"Well! You *are* quick off the mark today aren't you!" said the Master sarcastically.

"Yours was destroyed!"

"And again! Wow! You are an absolute genius today aren't you! I think you get the gold star!"

"Stop messing with my head and tell me what that's got to do with anything!"

"Oh! You are grouchy! Well, this isn't *mine*, I found it on your little friend there. It won't open. Now, you tell me, Doctor, if we're the only two Time Lords left in existence, then why has this little girly got a fob watch that won't open?"

The Doctor turned slowly to look at Lorelai. He had to admit that there was something…otherworldly about her. She didn't seem to quite fit. She feebly opened her eyes and the Doctor looked deep into them and jerked back suddenly.

"The time vortex! You've seen the Untempered Schism!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You saw it too didn't you, Doctor?"

"She's a Time Lord?! But…she can't be! She's human, human as they come!"

The Master pushed his forefingers against Lorelai's temples and she lay back onto the seat.

"Who are you?"

"Rose Tyler"


	7. Unexpected Confessions

Unexpected Confessions

"How could you?!" screamed the Doctor, emotion choking his voice as he turned teary eyes on the Master. "You know how much I love her!"

"Well, you obviously don't love her *that* much if you were just snogging little Miss Smith over there! And *this* is nothing to do with me, I can promise you that. My plan was to lure you here and set the Cybermen and Dalek Caan out onto the world to order submission to me…oops…shouldn't have told you that, should I?"

"Doctor…My Doctor…My bad wolf…"

"No! Stop!" By this time, tears were gushing out of the Doctor's eyes, he was sobbing uncontrollably, "It hurts too much!"

"How can it hurt you? I am Rose Tyler. I love you, my Doctor. I want you safe."

"It can't be you! You're trapped in the parallel universe!"

"I escaped the Time War. I regenerated. I hid. I missed you too much though so I set out to find you again. My little Rose incarnation didn't realise it, but the love she felt for you was how I felt before I left you. When she went through the void, she became Rose Tyler, the human. My Time Lord consciousness left her and entered this child. The closest human child to you."

"Who are you!?"

"Romana."


	8. The Truth About Lorelai Smith

The Truth About Lorelai Smith

The Doctor immediately leapt at her and held her to him. She still felt like the girl that Jack had introduced to him a few hours before but he could sense a difference somehow. A great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Then, he checked himself and straightened up stiffly. He wasn't sure of something…

"Rose…What about her?"

"What do you mean? She's alive and well."

"Does she remember me? Was it her who said…" his voice trailed off. Speaking about that day on the beach always chocked his voice.

"I don't know" Romana said simply, "I was so well hidden inside Rose that I forgot who I was. I honestly don't know who said it."

He nodded but she could tell that something was still bothering him, fighting an awkward battle in the recesses of his mind.

"What about me? Did I fall in love with her or with you?" he asked sharply. His eyes were filled with confused emotions. He was desperate. For the first time in his life, the Doctor needed an answer…


	9. Choices

Choices

She looked longingly into his eyes. She wished she had the answer he was looking for but she wasn't sure about anything anymore. In the end, she told him the most truthful answer that she could give him.

"I don't know," she said quietly, "I think you've got to choose for yourself. I liked Rose Tyler and I think, even if I hadn't been there, she would have liked you. You always were quite the charmer."

The Doctor chuckled softly at that but he now had a choice to make. Once he defeated the Master again, he would likely kill himself to avoid being "saved from himself" by the Doctor. That would leave him and Romana as the only two Time Lords in existence. If he chose Rose in Lorelai's body, he would be the last of the Time Lords again and if he chose Romana, he would never be quite sure what was real anymore and reality was a reassurance that he badly needed.

His puzzling was cut short, however, when the Cyberman leader stomped over to the Master and told him that global surrender had been ordered and that the armies were ready and waiting. The Doctor now had to find a way to stop the Master before he could think about his own problems. He turned to the space where Romana had been but she wasn't there. Turning slowly, he saw a Cyberman dragging the lifeless body of Lorelai Smith through the automatic doors. She was no longer Romana, she was a helpless human girl and she was about to die for him.

The Doctor rooted around in his pocket for a few seconds and pulled out his ever-faithful sonic screwdriver. He checked, just for a moment and whispered to himself exasperatedly, "Why does this always happen to me?! A normal day once in a while would be nice for a change." And he made a break for it through the doors.


	10. Mazes and Cybermen

Mazes and Cybermen

The Doctor hurtled into the corridor and looked around wildly. The building was a maze of corridors and stairways. Then he realised where he was. It was the Natwest Tower. The whole place had been built to the Master's design and now he knew why. This building was designed to keep people *in*. He spun in circles, following arrows left and right but it was no use. He couldn't even see the Cyberman who had taken Lorelai! They all looked the same! At that moment, a Cyberman walked solidly into him, knocking him flat.

"IDENTIFY!"

"I'm the Doctor. And you are…?"

"CYBER. UNIT.7B. YOU. WILL. STATE. YOUR. BUSINESS!"

"Erm, well, you see, I was actually looking for the bathroom. You wouldn't happen to know…"

"CYBERMEN. HAVE. NO. CONCEPT. OF. BATHROOMS. YOU. WILL. ACCOMPANY. ME. TO. THE. CONTROL. ROOM!"

"Oh now, that's ok. You just leave him to me you great big lump of metal."

A man stepped out of the shadows. He had been watching the scene intently. He looked every inch the dapper gentleman with a deep bluish-purple pinstripe suit, fitted to perfection. His hair was spiked and almost white. There was still some unthawed ice crystallising on his eyebrows and his neatly clipped goatee.


	11. Species Discrimination

Species Discrimination

The Cyberman stomped away leaving the Doctor with the Editor.

"They have no concept of species discrimination either so the 'great big lump of metal' remark will just slip past!" he joked sneeringly.

The Doctor grimaced at this comment and, as he slowly picked himself up from the floor, looked sidelong at the Editor.

"So what happened to you, then? Last time I saw you, you were covered in 'Max' goo"

"Yes, well, a lot's changed for me since then. We used your little friend Adam to learn about time travel and 'poof!', here I am!"

"Good old Adam," muttered the Doctor sarcastically. "So come on, then. You don't work for the Master. Two egotistical, power-hungry lunatics in one room always ends in tears. Who's the *real* 'Mastermind' behind all this?"

"You really want to know?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Right then, come this way and I'll let you meet our *lord and master*."

He led the way down the expanse of corridors, lifts and stairways to a large round room at the top of the building. The Editor opened the door with a flourish…


	12. Gooey Ceiling Bugs

Gooey Ceiling Bugs

Mounted into the ceiling was an expanse of rolling, bulging flesh. The Editor pointed upwards.

"Ah yes. Let me introduce our second in command: The Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe the Second (but you can call him 'Max Two' for short)!"

"Ah, you're never complete without a giant gooey bug…thingy in the ceiling, are you?" laughed the Doctor. "But…If…*that's* second in command then who's running this whole stupid operation?!"

The sliding doors to the balcony slide back into the wall.

"That would be me, Doctor."

~*~

Lorelai watched the Cyberman intently. They were outside on a new, unstable makeshift balcony from which the Master could deliver all his hypnotic speeches when he finally took control. The automatic door sucked back into the wall and she turned to see a handsome young man with short, ruffled black hair wearing jeans and a red t-shirt. He looked a bit like and IT geek but she didn't mind. She was a techie at Torchwood. She decided that he was another prisoner and turned her attention back to the view. Even so, she could feel his eyes boring into her back. He was watching her with a mixture of intrigue and knowledge. She turned.

"What are you here for, then?" she asked casually.

"Looking for you."

"Oh." Her smile immediately faded. He worked there. "Go on then, enlighten me."

"You don't look a bit like her," he said vaguely.

"Who?"

"Rose." He seemed surprised when she looked confused.

"Who *are* you?!" she asked infuriatedly.


	13. Old Friends, New Enemies

Old Friends, New Enemies

Adam stood looking triumphantly at the Doctor.

"You've regenerated," he stipulated smilingly.

"Yes."

"Where is she?"

"Who?"

"Rose."

"I can't think why it matters."

"Lorelai. She was supposed to be Rose. I was assured of that."

"What have you done to her?"

"She's safe…for now."

"What do you want with us?"

"Want?" he laughed incredulously. "Why, Doctor! I didn't want *you*! You were simply an accessory. It seems you can't reach the Tardis without going through you. Or Rose," he added as an afterthought.

"You'll never get inside the Tardis."

"Well that's why I'm giving the Master control over the Earth! Who needs *this* boring little planet when there is so much more to see out there!?"

The Doctor made to grab his sonic screwdriver but Adam was faster. He nodded to a Cyberman and the Doctor was locked in a vice-like grip. But that was what the Doctor wanted. Although he couldn't reach his sonic screwdriver to defeat Adam, he could still stop him. Careful not to make a noise, he brought his thumb and his middle finger together and clicked them.


	14. Forgiveness

Forgiveness

"Adam?...Nope, doesn't ring a bell. Sorry."

"*Nothing*?"

"No."

"Right. You can go back to your precious Doctor, then!"

He nodded at the Cyberman who was standing next to her. She was hauled up.

"Wait for my signal."

~*~

Adam's head flipped open, his brain just visible in between the metal flaps in his forehead. His eyes flashed angrily. The Doctor had known that the implanted chip would take him over after a while and now he knew that he had been right. Adam could hardly move but slowly, he managed to nod and Lorelai was flung, head first, into the control room. She fell to her knees and looked up carefully through her bedraggled curls.

A Cyberman stood behind her like an executioner. It raised its arm slowly and a tiny metal laser appeared from a concealed slot. It was aiming at her head. She turned her face upwards and looked at it slowly, a mixture of terror and acceptance crossing her face.

Lorelai Smith knew then that she was going to die.

She gradually turned her head to look at the Doctor. He stared helplessly back at her, unable to control the scene around him. Her eyes bore into him. In her eyes was something that the Doctor hadn't seen for some time. A feeling that he could not even give himself the satisfaction of - there was forgiveness in her steady brown eyes.

The Cyberman raised its other arm and, almost in slow motion, lowered its finger onto the button that would end Lorelai's life. The Doctor closed his eyes and heard a single shot and a thud as a body hit the floor.


	15. Three Little Words

Three Little Words

The Doctor opened his eyes tentatively. Peering around, he saw the body of a Cyberman lying splayed out on the floor. Lorelai lifted her head slowly from her arms and looked around, surprised. At the door stood a man. He wore a long petrol blue coat and a smug grin. He lifted his revolver and blew the smoke away arrogantly.

"Did you miss me?" smiled Jack.

The first shot was fired at him and hit him squarely in the chest. He fell to the floor but a few seconds later, sat up, gasping for breath.

"What the…" stammered Adam bemusedly.

"Oh yeah. Did I forget to mention that I can't die?" laughed Jack and he promptly killed the two Cybermen left in the room.

"And now for you…"

"No, wait, please!"

"Jack."

It was the Doctor, finally bringing sense to the chaos.

"We stop now. He's a scared kid, leave him alone."

"What about the giant bug-thingy in the ceiling?"

"Oh just fiddle with the thermostat and that won't be a problem

anymore."

"The rest of the Cybermen? And Dalek Caan?"

"Void," said the Doctor almost lazily.

"And the Master?"

"Leave him to me."

~*~

"Ah, Doctor. Still alive, I see."

"Yes and I'm here to say three little words that I should have said two years ago on the Valiant."

"No! You're not doing that to me!"

"I forgive you."

"No. No you don't. It's not happening. I'm not going to lose! Not again! You have no power over me, Doctor!"

"You're right, I don't but I have the power to forgive you. Gallifrey has gone and I've made my choice. We're the only two Time Lords left in existence and yes, I *could * kill you but that would leave me alone again, all that weight on my shoulders so for once in my life, I'm going to be selfish. You're not going to escape by dying again. You're not going to slip away. I'm taking you to Alzarius and you're going to find solace and forgive yourself. I hope you can do that. I never could."

It was that which broke the Master. He collapsed to the floor, sobbing and the Doctor lifted him up to his feet and walked to the Tardis with him.

Some say that he went quietly to Alzarius, others say that he found another planet to terrorise but all that anyone really knows is the Master was never seen by humans again.


	16. Partings

Partings

"So, where do you want to go, then?"

"Honestly?"

"Yeah."

"Home."

"B…but I thought…"

"I'm sorry. Life with you is just so…brilliant but you're like fire. You burn so brightly that we're like moths attracted to the flame-come too close and you get burnt."

He looked sadly into her eyes.

"I was going to take you to so many places. The Forgotten Moons of the Five Starlight Systems, The Rivers of Solitude on the Planets of the Sun. I was even going to take you to see Barcelona. The dogs there have no noses!"

He laughed. Lorelai sighed softly.

"And it all sounds so beautiful but you deserve it out there. All that brilliance. You fit. It's like a jigsaw puzzle and I'm the one piece in the box that shouldn't be there. The one piece that doesn't fit anywhere. I belong here with Torchwood and you belong up there with the star systems. I can't be the one who ruins that for you, we've both lost too much already."

"But…I love you."

"No you don't. You need someone that's worth all this, someone that's as special as you are. Jack's waiting. I'd better go.

The Doctor watched as she turned and walked away, the clatter of her heels resounding along the rain-soaked cobbles.

Suddenly, she turned around, her hair flicking out into the wind.

"Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Find her. Find Rose."

And then she was gone.


	17. Dawning Realisations

Dawning Realisations

The Doctor wandered around the Tardis' control panel and poked at a switch. The central column whirred into life and the Tardis rocked gently as it took off.

"She doesn't know," he thought to himself. "She doesn't know that she's Rose."

The Doctor stood silently for a moment, musing quietly to himself. His face suddenly lit up as realisation dawned.

"Wait! Romana said that Rose really *did * go through the Void. She's real and she's still alive! If I can get control of the settings on the lever modulators then I can reverse the polarity and Rose will come back to this universe! Right," he said decisively.

"Canary Wharf it is!"


	18. Run

Run

The Doctor stood at the top of Torchwood Tower. He had reduced the lever settings to minimal and reversed the polarity of the Void. Now all he had to do was wait. He watched the white-washed wall intently. After a few seconds, a crack appeared, then, almost like a piece of paper unfolding, a hazy gap began to appear.

A girl walked out and looked around bemusedly. She had ash-blonde hair and hazel coloured eyes. She was wearing black trousers and a baby blue ribbed jacket.

The Doctor took her hand and said one word, just one; "Run!"

_fin_


End file.
